Schizophrenia and its related conditions are all too common among young adults and are prevalent in about 1% of the general population. This is a devastating disorder of thinking; if gone undetected and thus untreated it can lead to robbing an individual of his or her life's goals and aspirations as it develops. If unchecked, it can lead to either suicidal or violent behavior towards others because the affected individual may become plagued by increasing paranoia, bothersome auditory hallucinations commanding various actions, and a general withdrawal from reality. Lately some unfortunate cases of developing schizophrenia have made the news because of the tragic and deadly events they initiated. These have spurred controversial gun control debates and have brought mental illness to the forefront of these debates about government legislation nationally.

November marks the annual observance of American Diabetes Month (ADM). Spearheaded by the American Diabetes Association, ADM is a time to raise awareness of diabetes, a metabolic disease in which the body’s inability to produce any or enough insulin causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a "spectrum disorder" that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. There is no known single cause of autism, but increased awareness and funding can help families today.

In March 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued their ADDM autism prevalence report. The report concluded that the prevalence of autism had risen to 1 in every 88 births in the United States and almost 1 in 54 boys. The spotlight shown on autism as a result of the prevalence increase opens opportunities for the nation to consider how to serve these families facing a lifetime of supports for their children.

Rare diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose. According to the FDA, one-third of people with a rare disease will wait one to five years before receiving a correct diagnosis. A new search engine created by researchers at the Technical University of Denmark, FindZebra, is aiming to change that.

"Zebra" is a medical slang term for a surprising diagnosis. The term derives from the aphorism "When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra", which was coined by a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to describe unexpected diagnoses. This term is widely used in medical communities, and refers to diseases occurring in less than 1 in 2000 of the population.

The FindZebra website states that it aims to "[address] the task of searching for relevant rare diseases given a query of patient data. The patient data is given as free text, which means that the queries do not have to use a controlled vocabulary or specific query language restrictions as in conventional diagnostic assistance systems. The patient data submitted as a query to the information retrieval (IR) system could consist of patient age, gender, demographic information, symptoms, evidence of diseases, test results, previous diagnoses, and other information that a clinician might find relevant in the differential diagnosis."

February 28th will mark the sixth annual Rare Disease Day which is meant to raise awareness for rare diseases and improve access to treatment and medical representation for patients and their families. The first observance was on February 29th, 2008, and was chosen because it was a "rare day." In 2009, Rare Disease Day went global with participation from patient advocacy organizations in the United States, China, Australia, Taiwan, and Latin America. More than 60 countries and regions worldwide are now involved in planning awareness-raising activities.

Rare Disease Facts

In the U.S., a rare disease typically affects a patient population estimated at fewer than 200,000

There are more than 7,000 rare diseases affecting an estimated 30 million people in the U.S., and more than 300 million globally

Almost 1 in 10 Americans is affected by a rare disease

Approximately 80% of rare diseases are genetic

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that 50% of the people affected by rare diseases are children

While individual rare diseases have small patient populations, collectively the rare disease community is larger than the AIDS and Cancer communities combined

Only 15% of rare diseases have organizations or foundations providing support or driving research

An estimated 95% of all rare diseases do not have a single FDA approved drug treatment

The Global Genes Project

The Global Genes Project is a non-profit organization led by Team R.A.R.E and R.A.R.E. Project, and aims to raise awareness for people and families touched by rare and genetic diseases. What began as a grassroots movement has now expanded into 500 organizations worldwide.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. While most people are aware of breast cancer, many forget to take the steps to have a plan to detect the disease in its early stages and encourage others to do the same.

Anchored by a Congressional health education program, each June, Men’s Health Month is celebrated across the country with screenings, health fairs, media appearances, and other health education and outreach activities.

With the help of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, LiveStrong and the Movember Foundation, November marks the 5th annual, Movember. Movember is an annual, Global event that takes place each November, involving the growing of moustaches, also known as “Mos,” to help raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.